Saturday, February 19, 2011

F-f-f-f-frankensocks!

Remember my Week of Wollmeise? Way way back in September 2009? Well, I've finally finished one of those projects! (and I have been knitting on a few of the others too). Yay for Binding Off 2011!

Meet husby's Frankensocks:
So called because they are a hodge-podge of patterns and because, well, they are a bit ugly. Not quite what I had in my head when I was planning them. But husby likes them, which is all that matters in the end. And I learnt a few new things too, which is always a good thing.

Pattern(s): I used the Latvian twist cast on for the top of the sock, from Nancy Bush's Canada sock from Knitting on the Road. Very easy! The downside - makes a bunch of extra ends to weave in!
Then a standard ribbed cuff. Next I used the chart from the Christmas in Tallinn stocking, from the same book. It worked over 72 stitches, and was a nice simple snowflake pattern. It wasn't very clear on the first sock, so I reversed the colours on the second one (top sock in photo below), and you can see the snowflakes much better.
The rest of the sock is regular stocking stitch, with a slip stitch heel flap and a wedge toe.

Yarn: Wollmeise of course! Wollmeise Twin, in Birkenrinde and Dunkle Kirsch for the contrast toe, twist cuff and fair isle section. I really really enjoyed knitting with this yarn and hope it wears well. Since husby is the first in our family to have Wollmeise socks!
Sticks: I used 2.75mm dpns for the cuff, 2.5mm dpns for the fair isle chart and the next few rows, and then 2.25mm dpns for the rest of the sock. You can see that the yarn flashes on the larger needles, but once I switched to the smallest sticks, the yarn started to behave quite nicely, and striped. I decided to use the needle changes to add shaping, rather than mess around with decreases as well as the fair isle band.

Time: 7 September 2009 - 31 January 2011. Although they were in hibernation from the end of 2009 until around December 2010. And with a bit of attention, the second sock took less than a month, weeeeeeee!
What I learnt: Latvian twist cast on! That highly variegated yarns don't really work in fair isle! How changing stick size affects tension and the way variegated yarns behave! (well, I did pretty much know that already, but this is a really good demonstration).
I'm so pleased to have these off the sticks!

21 comments:

m1k1 said...

Frankly my dear, they are superb, in the very best gothic way.

Bells said...

oh look at them! Ugly? No. Interesting? Yes. Well maybe ugly in an interesting sort of way. What a great experiment, throwing all those elements together. I think that's a really fun idea and I plan to try something like that myself some time!

DrK said...

Hehe, frankensocks indeed, but I really love them. And can you go wrong with wollmeise? I think not.

Sweetp said...

They are cool! I like the colours with the red contrast. What do you mean by flashing?

Donyale said...

Very flash franensocks!

MadMad said...

I am so loving Bind Off 2011 - I'm getting so much done! And it does feel good. Those socks are cute!

Anonymous said...

Yay, another Binding Off project, go you!

I think the socks are incredible and husby loves them so that's best of all.

I must get my hands on some Wollmeise before I die.

Mereknits said...

I really like these. It hink they are perfect for a man. Very interesting cast on, like the lookof it. And I love the red toes.
Have a great day,
Meredith

roxie said...

Wollmeise socks hand knit wiwth love? They're beautiful! especially from the foot's point of view. Luccky husby.

And good for you for finishing another project!!

michele said...

i think they look cute! and congratulations on getting them done. must be a nice feeling (says she who hasn't finished anything in a while)

Caffeine Girl said...

I think they have a certain charm of their own. The Latvian twist cast-on is very attractive. I think they are a success overall.

Celia said...

Very nice socks!

Kate said...

Your husband gets the first Wollmeise socks? It *must* be true love! :P

Louise said...

Yay for a finished project!

Lynne said...

As long as husby likes them, it doesn't matter waht anyone else thinks!

And the fact you learnt something along the way good for GAAK!

Gidgetknits said...

Oh, those are *fun*. Who doesn't love wearing fun socks?

Alwen said...

Maybe this year I will FINISH ALL THE THINGS! I live in hope.

One way to tell if two yarns will work like this (I think I learned it from Julie, Samurai Knitter) is either photocopy them, or if your camera has a black-and-white mode, take a picture of them.

Then it's easier to see if they have enough light/dark contrast to stand out.

Anonymous said...

I'm making my husband the first pair of Wollmeise socks in the family as well - is it guilt that makes us do it, or an attempt to persuade them of the superiority of the yarn?

They look quite lovely photographed!

1funkyknitwit said...

Interesting comes to mind here in a cool sort off way...lol, I know that doesn't make much sense but that is what I'm thinking and my brain doesn't make much sense anyway ;D

DH loves them ...that is all that matters plus all the great stuff you learnt in the making ! :)

Sarah said...

What beloved monsters

Linda said...

Wonderful! I love the way you have knit the colours.